U Turnabout
by DezoPenguin
Summary: When Maya Fey's friend is accused of a hit and run killing, only one attorney has a chance to save her in court! But despite that, she's ended up defended by Phoenix Wright, instead.
1. Chapter 1

"Objection! The witness's testimony is...objectionable!"

"Nick, what are you doing?" Maya Fey hissed from her spot beside me at the defense bar.

"Well, I heard Edgeworth use that once," I murmured self-consciously. Though come to think of it, the excuse hadn't gotten the cutthroat prosecutor any further than it had me. I had to try _ something_, though, didn't I? My client was on trial for murder!

It was a hit-and-run case. John Q. Public, innocent pedestrian, had been mowed down at eleven-thirty at night. The detectives had already presented the autopsy report to confirm that death was from the auto accident, and blood traces had been found on the crumpled fender of the defendant's car, a high-performance SXT of just the type people liked to drive fast and recklessly.

And as for the defendant...

_"Nick, you've got to help her!"_

_"What? Who is this?"_

_"It's Maya, Nick!"_

_"It's...uh...three in the morning. Why are you calling? Are you in trouble?"_

_"Yes! No! Well, Ayako is! Her trial starts tomorrow morning, and she doesn't have an attorney! She called me because she remembered my sister was a defense lawyer, only Mia--"_

Only Mia Fey, my mentor in the practice of law and Maya's older sister, was dead. Maya had acted as my assistant during several cases since then, but she'd eventually decided to leave the city to continue her training as a spirit medium. I was surprised by just how much I'd missed her, and how glad I was to be back working with her.

On the other hand, I could have chosen better circumstances for the reunion. Ayako Avalon, nineteen years old and already a big name as a medium--they even talked about her getting her own TV show!--had been a couple of years ahead of Maya in her training, and they'd become close friends. She'd turned to Maya for help, recalling that Maya's sister was a rising star in legal circles...

...and had ended up with me defending her, instead.

Now, Miles Edgeworth was moving in for the kill with his usual panache. Thus far, I hadn't been able to poke a hole in any of his witnesses' testimony, though I was scoring a high grade in embarrassing myself in public.

"Your Honor, if we are through with the comedy portion of this trial"--Edgeworth buffed his nails on his elaborate burgundy jacket--"then perhaps the witness could give his testimony again?"

The judge cleared his throat. With his bald head and thick, flowing beard, he made an imposing figure, particularly when he was scowling at me in displeasure.

"Yes, indeed. Mr. Berd, if you would?"

Ford T. Berd, advertising executive, showed off a mouthful of teeth white enough to reflect back the ceiling lamps.

"It was around eleven-thirty in the evening, the night before yesterday. I'd just gotten out of a business meeting with Steele and Co., and I thought I'd drop in on Ayako."

"Hold it!" I cut in. "Just why would you 'drop in' on Ms. Avalon half an hour before midnight? Isn't that a little late to be paying social calls?"

Berd chuckled.

"Not if I was planning to stay for breakfast, if you know what I mean?"

_Oh._

"Surely Mr. Wright doesn't need specific details about what consenting adults do in the course of a romance, does he?" Edgeworth asked.

"Um, well, er..." I stammered, rubbing the back of my neck where the muscles had just tensed up. "What makes you think that?" _Gee, Phoenix, that wasn't completely embarrassing, was it?_ "So you're saying that you're the defendant's boyfriend, Mr. Berd?"

"We'd been out a couple of times. Nothing too serious, but what the hey? Her apartment building was just down the block from my meeting, so I was in the neighborhood."

"Is Mr. Berd what they call a 'player,' Nick?" Maya asked curiously. She was seventeen, and all the time she'd spent on the mountain in training had kind of put the brakes on her social life.

"Er, that is--"

"I'll ask Mr. Edgeworth about it after the trial. I'm sure he's a good judge of who's got game."

_Ouch._

"If we could return to the significant point?" Edgeworth prodded things along. I had to give him credit; he'd much rather humiliate me professionally than personally.

"Right. Well, anyway, I went into the lobby of her apartment building. The Stonecrest is a security building, you see; you have to have a card key to get past the lobby to the elevators. So I buzzed her on the intercom to let me up, but nada. I tried three, maybe four times, but she wasn't home. So I left. Plenty of other fish in the creel."

_Shouldn't that be "sea"? Why is it all the weirdos in the city want to testify in court?_

"And at no time did you see the defendant?"

"Right; like I said, she wasn't home."

"Precisely. She wasn't home--because she was out driving, hitting John Q. Public with her car!"

"How do you know she wasn't home? She could have just been asleep!" I snapped. "All you know is that she didn't answer her intercom."

Berd chortled.

"No way, sonny. There's no way that was the case!"

_Huh?_

"Mr. Berd, why don't you explain to the court just how you know that the defendant wasn't home?" Edgeworth suggested. "I'm sure His Honor will permit you to revise your testimony."

"Yes, well, of course," concurred the judge. "We have to get all the relevant testimony into the record. Do try to be specific."

"Sure enough. As you know, I'm in advertising. It just so happens that I worked on the ad campaign for Bar None Security, who installed the systems at Ayako's building. People were worried about missing important callers if they were in the shower or something, so those intercom buzzers are loud enough to wake the dead! If she didn't answer after being buzzed four times, she wasn't asleep."

"Hold it!"

"Um...I was done, actually."

"There's a woman's life at stake here. There's no need for jokes." I was surprised Edgeworth didn't pitch in with a comment about my whole defense being a joke. "The truth is, you have no idea if Ms. Avalon was home or not. All you can say is that no normal person could have slept through the intercom buzzer."

"Can the defense prove that she _was_ home?" Edgeworth asked.

"I think I can!"

_Surprised you that time, didn't I?_

"Here's the proof that Ms. Avalon_ did_ sleep through the buzzer!"

Okay, so maybe the dramatic pointing was a little over the top. Still, it was the first time all day I'd managed to score a telling point, so I figured I could be forgiven for a little overenthusiasm.

The evidence I produced was a little white pill bottle.

"As you can see, this is a prescription drug bottle. Ms. Avalon is a diagnosed insomniac, and her doctor prescribed these for when she has trouble sleeping. She couldn't have heard the intercom buzz four times, forty times, or four hundred times, because she was in a drugged slumber!"

"Gah!" Berd choked. Music to my ears. Then things went swiftly off-key.

"Tsk, Mr. Wright, think about what you are saying," Edgeworth said, "tut-tutting" at me with wagging finger.

"Huh?" was my brilliant comeback.

"It's certainly true that sleeping pills could explain why the defendant didn't answer her door..."

I could feel the "but" coming--no doubt to make _me_ the butt of his point.

"But you have no way to show if she took pills that night or not! If you can't prove that she was asleep in bed at the time of the crime, then all you're doing is engaging in pointless speculation."

"Well, that's certainly true," noted the judge. "Do you have any more evidence, Mr. Wright?"

Okay, this one I was ready for.

"Yes, Your Honor, I do."

"You do?"

"You do, Nick?" Maya asked, surprised. Such faith my assistant had.

"I do. Take a look at the label on this prescription bottle. It was filled _on the very day of the crime!_ There were thirty pills in the prescription, with a dosage of two pills nightly as needed. Now, there are twenty-six pills left, two used each night since the prescription was filled. So we _do_ know that Ms. Avalon took her medication on the night of the crime. She was asleep in bed when the hit-and-run occurred!"

Slowly, the judge nodded.

"Yes...yes, I see your point. This appears to be concl--"

"Objection!"

_Ack!_

"Mr. Edgeworth?"

"This evidence is conclusive of nothing!"

How did I know he was going to say that?

"Of course, four pills are missing from this bottle, but we have no evidence as to when they were removed or by whom. Even conceding that the defendant actually did take the recommended dosage, what's to say that she took the first dose once she returned to her apartment _after hitting the victim with her car!_ Surely this is the kind of traumatic event that would encourage a person to need sedation to sleep? Indeed, I'd say that the defense's evidence goes to prove the defendant guilty!"

There were days that I thought Edgeworth could argue that a nun putting on her habit showed the intent to conceal her appearance for committing a crime.

"Quite so, Mr. Edgeworth. Indeed, I should say that--"

"Objection!" I shouted desperately. "The prosecution still hasn't shown that it was Ms. Avalon driving the car."

"They haven't?"

I shook my head.

"No, Your Honor. All they've done is to prove her car was used in the killing, and to attack the defendant's alibi. They haven't established that she was driving the car when it struck the victim!"

Edgeworth shrugged, spreading his hands.

"That's true, Your Honor."

_Huh? He's agreeing with me?_

"However..."

_Oh._

"The prosecution has further witnesses who will complete the noose of evidence around the defendant's neck!"

I could certainly feel it tightening around my own.


	2. Chapter 2

Defendant's Lobby No. 4 was not a happy place during the ten-minute recess. It was funny how the place where I'd celebrated my first courtroom win, or avenging the murder of Maya's older sister, or solving a fifteen-year-old incident that had loomed over the heads of nearly everyone I worked with, could carry none of those happy memories forward. Or had that been a different lobby? I never remembered which was which. Gut-wrenching nerves will do that to a man.

"Decisive witnesses!" moaned Maya. "This is bad, Nick! What are we going to do now?"

"I...don't know. Those sleeping pills were our big gun, and Edgeworth batted them aside like they were nothing."

"You don't know!" Ayako screeched. "What do you mean, you don't know?" She was literally trembling with anger, making the prayer beads around her neck click against one another. "What am I paying you for?"

"Pay!" squeaked Maya. "I told you, Ayako, that you don't have to pay us. Nick is always glad to stick up for a friend."

_Yeah, you did say that._ One of these days we'd actually get a client who paid for our services.

"Well, maybe I _should_ be paying for my attorney, then," Ayako snapped. "I know you mean well, Maya, but so far I'd be just as well off with a real porcupine as with this imitation one."

I wondered why people who were mad at me always went for the hair first. Ah, well, at least Ayako actually cared about her defense. It was a nice change of pace from some of my clients. If I was on trial for murder, I certainly wouldn't be pulling the "stoic and sacrificing" routine...oh, wait, I _was_ on trial for murder once...but at least I was right. "Panic in the streets" was more or less my motto then, passing out in the courtroom, talking to dead people...

_Hold on a second._

"Okay, back up. Let's not panic yet."

"Huh? Nick, you have an idea?" Maya brightened up.

"Well, not quite..."

I've never seen a face fall apart quite so fast.

"But remember what your sister always said. Do we believe Ayako is innocent?"

"You'd _better_!" Ayako snapped.

"Well, yes, of course."

"Then there must be a flaw in the evidence somewhere. The truth can't prove someone guilty of something they didn't do."

"Y-yeah, Nick, you're right. We have to go back in there and do our best, even if Mr. Edgeworth is crushing you underfoot like a slow-moving cockroach."

"Maya, you might want to work on the pep talk a little more," Ayako noted. _She_ was grinning now, though, so maybe I'd managed to lift our spirits a bit after all.

Too bad that high spirits weren't going to score us points with the judge.

When we returned to the courtroom, Miles Edgeworth was full of high spirits, too. In fact, he looked positively smug.

"The prosecution calls its next witness."

A skinny young man about twenty trooped his way to the stand. He wore a forest-green jacket and slacks edged with gold braid and an elaborate peaked cap in the same color, clearly some kind of uniform.

"The witness will state his name and occupation."

"Albert Pacer. Albert M.C. Pacer, that is. Doorman at the Stonecrest Building."

"And are you familiar with the defendant in this case, Ms. Ayako Avalon?"

"Yep. Lives at the Stonecrest, you know. Tenant for six months. Pretty girl. Car's a sweet thing, too! Cherry-red SXT. Man, can she go!"

I wondered if Pacer was allergic to complete sentences.

"We'll get to the car later. What are your duties as doorman?"

"Well, I...I get the door. I sit in the lobby, see, until midnight. If a resident comes in with packages or something, I help them out. And I get their cars for them, or park them, when they come in."

"So you parked Ms. Avalon's car for her when she returned home from work that evening?"

"Yeah. It was around 5:00. I put the car in the lot out back and hung up her keys." He grinned broadly. "Man, what a ride! Even the leather interior!"

"You hung up her keys?"

"Yeah, sure. There's a board in the parking lot. Park in slot two, hang keys on peg two."

"Hold it!" I burst in. "Mr. Pacer, are you saying that anyone could walk into the parking lot, help themselves to the keys, and drive off with the car?"

Pacer didn't so much as have time to draw breath before Edgeworth objected.

"Tsk, tsk, Mr. Wright. We haven't even finished the testimony. Don't be so eager that you start questioning before cross-examination starts."

"Objection sustained!" said the judge. "This is an orderly court of law, not a circus."

_You could have fooled me._

"Go on, Mr. Pacer. Explain to us about this parking lot so Mr. Wright doesn't have to remember his question for later."

Pacer nodded.

"Right. Security building, you see. Nine-foot fence. Wire at the top--police permit for that. Automatic alarms. One gate only. Card key to get in--doors use card keys too."

"So in fact, no stranger off the street could get into the parking lot without either injuring himself or setting off an alarm. In fact, neither of these things happened, as you'll recall from the detective's report. The only way to get to the parking lot is to use a card key--the same one a resident used for their door. This proves that it was Ms. Avalon who took out her car, then returned to the building after twelve, when the doorman was off-duty."

"Hm, well, yes...this does appear to be conclusive evidence," harrumphed the judge.

_You would say that._

"Mr. Wright, you may cross-examine."

"Nick, what are we going to do?" Maya asked. "This witness...it looks like it's all over."

I do so love when my own side is confident about our case.

"Yeah, maybe so...but I can't let this opportunity slip by. You never know."

I turned to the witness.

"Mr. Pacer, you said that you went off-duty at midnight?"

"Yes."

"The prosecution claims that you didn't see the defendant return to the building because she came back after midnight...but did you see her go _out_?"

"No, I didn't."

"Well, then, how is she supposed to--"

"Objection! Witness, is there another way out of the building?"

"Sure. Could have used the fire stairs. Goes to the back of the building. Only opens from the inside, though. Can't come in that way."

_Crap. I should have known Edgeworth wouldn't have missed that one. I'd better come at this from another angle._

"Mr. Pacer, let me see if I understand you correctly. Each resident has a card key that lets them in and out of the parking lot, is that right?"

"Yeah. It's their door key and the one that lets them past the lobby as well."

"Inside the lot are all the residents' cars, as well as the keys to those cars?"

"Uh-huh."

"So anyone who got into the lot could help themselves to any of the residents' vehicles, then?"

"Well, yeah, but that's why the lot is fenced off."

"But anyone who _could_ get in--"

"Objection! The witness has already testified to the security measures in place. It is clear that only a professional burglar could get into the lot without a card key, and that is clearly not what occurred here."

"Why is that, Mr. Edgeworth?" the judge wanted to know.

"Because even if an expert car thief could break in without leaving any traces whatsoever--a suggestion that is dubious at best--such a thief would never return the car to the site of the theft! No possible motive could explain it."

"Yes...yes, that's quite correct."

"Objection!" I shouted, slamming my hands onto the bar before me.

"Really, Mr. Wright, what could you possibly be objecting about?"

"Just this..." I straightened up and grinned, resting my hands on my hips. "The prosecution has a good point in that it's highly unlikely an outsider broke in and stole the defendant's car. But! There are many different people who have access to the lot! Mr. Pacer, how many apartments are there in the building?"

"Forty-four. Four suites each on floors two through twelve."

"So," I said, warming to my theme, "there are at a minimum forty-three other people who could have walked into the parking lot at will with their card keys and have free access to Ms. Avalon's SXT."

"And just why would a resident take the defendant's car instead of his or her own?"

"In order--_to commit murder_!"

The courtroom erupted into frenzied activity, the crowd talking, cheering, or booing as suited their attitude. The judge hammered his gavel, demanding order, and eventually things settled down. He then fixed his gaze on me.

"Mr. Wright, what is your explanation for this?"

"Simply this, Your Honor. What are we here for? This is the trial in the case of the murder of John Q. Public. Who would want to kill this man? I haven't heard a motive suggested by any witness or by the prosecution as to why the defendant would want to commit murder, and I submit that there is none! She hadn't even heard of him before!"

"B-but this is a hit-and-run case."

"Exactly!" I was on a roll, now. "And what could be a better murder weapon that two tons of speeding metal? It's efficient, lethal, and unlike a shooting or a stabbing it might not even be realized to be murder! Only, if you were going to commit murder with a vehicle, would you use your own car? Not if you have forty or so others to pick from! I submit that the real murderer took Ms. Avalon's car, ran down the victim, and returned the car to the lot. He or she had to bring the car back, because the real murderer lives in that building! Did the police question other residents about their relationship to the victim? Of course not, because they had a suspect in hand already." I pointed dramatically. "I submit that the investigation of this case is nowhere near complete! In light of this shoddy police work, the doubts about Ms. Avalon's guilt are too great to overcome! I move for a verdict of 'not guilty' at this time, Your Honor!"

Wide-eyed, the judge blinked in surprise.

"Well...that is...I certainly never expected this, but we can't be shuffling people off to prison on the strength of half-finished police work. I therefore find the defendant, Ms. Ayako Avalon--"

"_Objection_!"

The gavel paused even as it was sweeping down.

_Gah! So close!_

"This has all been very entertaining, Your Honor, but it is all baseless speculation on the part of the defense. Mr. Wright has spun out an interesting scenario of murder and mayhem, but he has not produced one single shred of evidence of its truth." He turned to me. "This is a court of law, Mr. Wright. Where is your proof?"

"Well...I..."

"It's true that the Police Department has not ascertained if any of the other residents of the Stonecrest Building knew the victim. There was no need for them to do so! The defense's entertaining speculation about why another resident would drive anywhere in Ms. Avalon's car applies only in a case of _premeditated murder_. This, though, was nothing of the sort. It was an _accident_. Only because the driver left the scene of the crime without reporting it does a hit-and-run become legally defined as 'murder.' There would be no reason for another resident to take any car but their own if they weren't planning on wrong-doing."

_He's right, but..._

"But you can't prove that! The point is that other possibilities haven't been investigated yet."

"Mr. Wright is...well, right, Mr. Edgeworth," the judge said. "Unless you can prove that this crime was an accident and not premeditated murder, I will have to rule in the defense's favor."

"You've got him on the ropes now, Nick!" Maya cheered.

Then, Edgeworth smiled.

"Oh, is that all? Fortunately, I can prove that and more. After all, I said before the last recess that I had further _witnesses_ to call. My next witness will not only prove that the killing was in fact an accident, but cement the fact that Ms. Avalon was indeed the killer, because this witness actually saw the crime take place!"


	3. Chapter 3

"An actual witness to the crime?" I groaned, rubbing my nose. It still hurt from when I had faceplanted onto the defense bench in surprise at Edgeworth's announcement. Maya's response had been less than sympathetic.

_Serves you right for being so surprised_, I told myself. He'd announced it in advance, after all. Besides, by now I ought to expect Edgeworth to have something up his sleeve.

"Nick, that's just not possible!" Maya protested.

I turned to the defendant.

"Isn't it?"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Ayako was still running true to form.

"I mean, are you telling us the truth?"

"What happened to all your big talk about believing in my innocence, and about getting to the truth? Was that all just hot air?"

"N-no, but..."

"Look, I'll say this again: I came home at 5:00. I had a late supper. I watched TV. At eleven I took two sleeping pills and went to bed. The next thing I knew, the police were pounding on my door. I don't know anything about a hit-and-run. After five, I never left my apartment. That is the absolute truth."

She sounded earnest and convincing. Of course, that didn't actually mean anything, but...

Dammit, she was Maya's friend. Maya had come back to the city, walking away from her training, for the sole purpose of helping Ayako out. Maya trusted her when she said she was innocent. And Ayako trusted Maya, too. Ayako was a successful, fashionable medium who lived in a fancy building and drove an expensive sports car. When she'd learned of Mia's death, she could have hired the top defense firm in the city, but instead she'd trusted me with the job, because Maya had told her I could do it and she believed in Maya.

If I let Edgeworth win a "guilty" verdict, I'd be turning Maya into a liar or a fool in the eyes of her friend. I couldn't do that. That's what it came down to.

I'd believed in Maya before, when she'd been accused of murder and I hadn't even known her. Couldn't I believe in her now when she had put her faith in a friend?

How could I not?

"All right, then that's how it's going to be. I'll just have to try and poke whatever holes I can in this witness's testimony."

Maya clapped happily.

"That's the spirit, Nick!"

"Yeah, but if I can't...we'll find ourselves speeding right towards a brick wall."

-X X X-

"Trial in the case of the People versus Ayako Avalon is back in session."

"The defense is ready," I lied shamelessly.

"The prosecution is ready, Your Honor." Edgeworth obviously wasn't lying.

"Very well, Mr. Edgeworth. Please call your next witness."

"The prosecution calls Mrs. Minnie Cooper to the stand."

Minnie Cooper proved to be a grandmotherly type in her mid-sixties, short and a bit plump. She wore a flower-print dress and sensible shoes, but threw off the image a bit with the open-face motorcycle helmet, leather driving gloves, and goggles (bifocals, natch).

"Witness, please state your name and occupation."

"Minnie Cooper, young'un! Retired now, but back in the day I was one of the hottest pit popsies on the circuit!"

"Pit...popsies..."

"Racing groupies, Edgie-boy! Caught every single event six years running. They were fast on the track but none of those racers ever drove anything faster than me!" She patted her hip. "Care to see my autograph collection?"

"Not if you were holding my mother at gunpoint."

_Looks like Edgeworth's met his match._

"You wouldn't have said that forty years ago, young'un!"

"Let's just proceed with the testimony, shall we? You saw the incident, didn't you?"

"Well of course I did. Wouldn't be here if I hadn't."

"Then please go ahead and tell us what happened."

"Well, I was stopped at the traffic light at the corner of Fifth and Garden. It was around eleven-thirty, as best I can remember."

"As best you can remember?"

"Don't get your undies in a twist, Edgie-boy. I didn't have a watch, not that I'd be looking at it all the time if I did. Life's too short to be wasting it clock-watching! Now anyway, I happened to notice this very cute fellow on the other side of the street, but going the same way as I was. So I called out to him. Just then, this cherry-red SXT came screaming through the intersection going north on Garden."

"You were facing east on Fifth at the time?"

"That's right."

"And the victim was walking east on the sidewalk on the north side of Fifth?"

"You're catching on, young'un. The next thing I knew, the SXT made a sharp U-turn and came racing back southbound just as that poor boy dashed out into the street. It hit him--pow!--and he went flying. The car slowed while the driver looked back, then sped up again and tore away south on Garden. I hopped off my bike and ran over to the injured man, but he was already dead. I then went up half a block to a pay phone and called the police."

"I may add that it was this witness's identification of the vehicle as a new-model SXT that enabled the police to so quickly locate the defendant. There are only four such cars registered in the city," Edgeworth finished up, "so it was an easy matter to check up on them all. Now, Mrs. Cooper, did you happen to see who was at the wheel of that car?"

"Well, of course I did!" She leaned forward at the witness stand and speared her finger directly at my client. "It was her, grinning like a crazed demon!"

_Gak! All that and she's ripping off my dramatic finger-pointing, too!_

The courtroom had erupted into a buzz of excitement at Mrs. Cooper's testimony. The judge had to hammer his gavel repeatedly while calling for order to get things to quiet down. Edgeworth, meanwhile, swept a deep bow in my direction.

"I believe that completes the prosecution's case quite nicely, Your Honor."

"Yes, I see! You have a decisive witness indeed, Mr. Edgeworth. Still, in the interest of courtesy, I suppose we should allow Mr. Wright the opportunity to cross-examine."

_Gee, thanks ever so._

"Okay, Nick, this is it! Time to prove she's lying!" Maya said.

"Do you have any suggestions?"

"Um...not really." She hung her head. "It all sounded pretty bad to me."

Maya wasn't the only one. Mrs. Cooper's testimony had seemed rock-solid to me, too. But it couldn't be, could it?

"I guess all I can do is squeeze her and see what pops out."

"Ugh."

"Not _literally_!"

"Still. Ugh."

"Mr. Wright!"

"Yes, Your Honor!" I cleared my throat. "Mrs. Cooper, would you say that the driver of the SXT intended to hit Mr. Public?"

She shook her head.

"Oh, no, I'm sure she couldn't see him."

"You are? That part of town is well-lighted, isn't it?"

"Of course, young'un. Bright as Daytona under the lights."

"So how is it that the driver couldn't see Mr. Public standing at the corner?"

"Because of the trees."

"The trees?"

"It's called Garden Street for a reason, Mr. Wright," Edgeworth supplied. "There are stands of trees at regular intervals all the way along its length."

"That's right, Edgie-boy, and when you're southbound on Garden, you can't see someone at that corner until they actually step out to cross."

"Hold it! You just said that the SXT drove through the intersection, then made a U-turn and came _back_ southbound. Isn't that the case?"

"That's what I said."

"Well, then, couldn't the driver have seen Public while going northbound?"

"I...well, I suppose so."

"And what's more, the driver, upon seeing Public, immediately made a U-turn and shot back through a red light to hit and kill him. I don't see that as being an accident."

"But the light wasn't red!"

I blinked in surprise.

"Wait, are you saying that the light was green for traffic on Garden?"

"That's right."

"So Mr. Public was crossing Garden Street against the light?"

"Yes, he was."

"But you just said that he was _standing_ at the corner, waiting. Then he just decided to cross against the light? Why would he do something like that?"

"Well...um...er..." She pressed her forefingers together nervously. "I guess there _could_ have been a reason..."

"What?" Edgeworth exclaimed.

_Ha! This is something he didn't expect. Maybe I'm on the right track after all!_

"Mrs. Cooper, please give your testimony again, and this time try to include _all_ of the important details," advised the judge.

"Right, sonny-boy!"

_Sonny-boy? He's as old as you are!_

"Anyway, like I said, I was stopped at the light, so I looked around. That's when I saw this hottie standing on the corner. I looked him over from head to toe and back up again--yum! So I called to him, 'Hey, baby, want to take a ride on this?' Then, he got all wide-eyed and darted into the street."

_Okay, now it makes perfect sense,_ I decided.

"The way I see it, young'un, he just knew he would be out of his league."

"I think we'd all agree that you're in a league of your own," noted Edgeworth, unamused. "Still, not even the esteemed defense attorney could call this anything but a tragic accident turned into a murder by the heartless attitude of the driver, who didn't even stop once before making her getaway."

"He's right, Nick. What are we going to do?"

Good question. As Edgeworth had promised, he'd shot my murder theory all to heck. The police had proven Ayako's car was the killing vehicle, so the only way out was to show that someone else was the driver.

"That does seem to be the case, Mr. Edgeworth," the judge said, swaying with the testimonial wind as usual. "Does the defense even wish to cross-examine?"

I nodded firmly. There was no turning back now.

"Yes, Your Honor, I do."

"Really? Well, I suppose that would be okay."

_Okay, Wright, you've already caught her holding back once. Can you do it again?_

"So, Mrs. Cooper," I began, "you were 'scoping out' the victim while he was at the corner?"

"You betcha, young'un! Just because there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there isn't fire--"

"Objection!" Edgeworth snapped. "I don't think we need any metaphors that would put those kind of images into our heads."

"The Court agrees!" the judge said in desperation. "Objection sustained!"

"After that," I hurried on, "you spoke to the victim, and he dashed into the road, where he was struck by the defendant's car?"

"You've been paying attention!" she said approvingly.

"Yes, I have...close enough attention to see there's a clear contradiction in your testimony!"

"What?"

"Order in the court!" the judge shushed the suddenly buzzing gallery.

"Objection! There's no contradiction in the testimony!"

"Well, Mr. Wright? Can you show us this supposed contradiction?"

"Yes, Your Honor, I can!" _I hope_. "You've already testified that the hit-and-run car drove north through the intersection while the light was green, made a U-turn and came back south to strike the victim. But! You've also said that you looked the victim over 'from head to toe and back up again'--all before you spoke to him! _So how is it that you could tell the details of the defendant's car while you were watching the victim_?"

"Eep!" Mrs. Cooper shot bolt upright at the stand, causing her helmet to pop up off her head and show off her bald spot before it dropped back into place.

"To see the victim, you had to turn your head to your left, and your helmet restricts your peripheral vision," I kept after her. "You _couldn't_ have seen the car at all, not even out of the corner of your eye, until it came through the intersection, and after that you were talking to the victim! Tell us the truth, Mrs. Cooper!"

"I...I..."

"Objection! What the witness told the police led directly to identifying the defendant's car as the hit-and-run vehicle!"

"Objection! That's exactly why we need to hear the truth of her testimony!"

"Indeed we do," agreed the judge. "Mr. Edgeworth indicates that your testimony led to the police discovering the fatal vehicle, but as Mr. Wright has demonstrated, that testimony indicates you couldn't have seen it."

"B-but I did see it! It went right past me after the accident."

"While you were looking at the body of the victim! You only got a glimpse of the car at best! _There's no way you could have gotten a clear look at the driver!_" She reeled beneath my onslaught.

"A...all right! I admit it!"

"You...'admit it'?" asked the judge, stunned.

"I _was_ looking at that cute boy. I barely saw the car at all, only enough to notice the color."

"Then how did you know it was an SXT?"

"Well, really, I may need my glasses but I'm not _deaf_, you know. Do you think I could mistake that McCulloch and Sons V8 with the racing cam and factory-option supercharger they've put in SXTs for the past three years? Do I look senile to you?"

"Y-you recognized the car by the sound of its engine?"

"Is that so surprising?" Edgeworth put in. "Given the witness's long--ahem--experience with high-performance cars, I suspect she could easily do what she claims."

_Yeah...I suppose so_, I thought. I'd almost had her, until Edgeworth had managed to wriggle her back off the hook.

Or had he?

"Hold it! The point isn't that the witness was able to positively identify the _car_. The point is, since she could only do so by sound, she can't testify that the defendant was driving it! That leaves this case right where we were before the witness took the stand!"

"Not quite," Edgeworth wagged his forefinger next to his temple, a gesture I was coming to hate. It always meant disaster for me. "The significant fact revealed by Mrs. Cooper is that this crime was by no means a premeditated murder."

Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten about that.

"This means that, having already ruled out theft for gain, we can now establish that no one could have stolen the defendant's car to provide an alibi. Only the defendant would have used her own vehicle, and she has no alibi of her own. She claims to have been home asleep, but the man who came to visit buzzed her intercom repeatedly without success. With the defense's last argument shattered, all that is left of this case is to enter a verdict of 'guilty.'"

_Uh huh. Definitely hate that finger._


	4. Chapter 4

I didn't know what was left to do. Edgeworth had neatly boxed my client into a corner. No, there wasn't any kind of conclusive proof, but the circumstantial case was strong enough to leave Ayako out of luck. The judge certainly was convinced; he was raising his gavel--

"Objection!"

Everyone in the courtroom blinked in shock, and then all eyes turned to Maya.

"You can't do this!" she cried. "Ayako didn't do anything!"

"Your Honor, the proof is before the court. We need not listen to the emotional outcries of little girls."

Maya stuck her tongue out at Edgeworth.

"Wait a minute..." the judge murmured. "I remember you. You're that girl I had to have removed in contempt of court a week ago, aren't you?"

We were in for it now. Maya's last outburst in court had gotten her hauled off to jail. Of course, it had also saved Edgeworth from a "guilty" verdict in the Hammond murder case, but twice in ten days...I didn't have the money to come up with that kind of bail! She'd be in jail quite a while, and there weren't many waterfalls in the detention center.

"Um...well..." Maya stalled.

"Regardless, Miss Fey is not an attorney, and there is no legal basis for her objection," Edgeworth pressed. "We need not waste our time on--"

"Hold it!" I slammed my hands down on the desk, capturing everyone's attention.

"Mr. Wright, what is the meaning of this?"

"Maya may only be my assistant, true, but there is definitely a legal basis for her objection!"

"There is?" the judge asked.

"There is?" Maya chimed in, confused.

"There is!" _I hope._ "The prosecution has built a circumstantial case, yes, but there's still no evidence that Ms. Avalon was the driver of her car!"

Edgeworth sighed and shook his head.

"We've been over this before, Mr. Wright. Unless you have evidence that puts someone else behind the wheel, then these objections are only a pointless waste of time."

"But I have evidence."

"Whaaaat?"

I picked up the transcript of the earlier witnesses' testimony and tapped it for emphasis.

"It's right here in the testimony already given, and I can confirm it with one question."

"One question? Do you mean, you want to recall a previous witness to the stand, Mr. Wright?"

"That's right, Your Honor. The truth of this matter will be made plain by this question."

"Hmmm...it's a highly irregular procedure, but if, as you say...Does the prosecution have any objection?"

Edgeworth shook his head.

"The prosecution has no objection to the truth. If Mr. Wright thinks he can sweep away all the evidence we've heard with one question, then let's let him ask."

_Weird. I thought I'd have to argue him into it._

"Of course, if the answer to this question does not dramatically change this case, then the defense will concur that a verdict can be rendered immediately."

"Gah!"

"Nick, are you sure about this?"

I nodded as firmly as I could manage.

"I am."

"Well, okay, but this had better be one doozy of a question."

"Mr. Wright, do you accept the prosecution's condition?"

"I do."

"Then," Edgeworth said with a bow, "by all means, proceed. Which witness do you wish to call?"

"The would-be boyfriend, Mr. Ford T. Berd."

The bailiff went into the crowd to fetch Berd from the witness seats. While he was making his way through the rows, Maya turned to me.

"Are you sure about this, Nick? Only one question? If it doesn't solve the case, Ayako will be found guilty at once!"

"I'm trusting you that Ayako is innocent," I told her.

"Yes..."

I laid a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Then trust me to prove it."

She brightened up, showing her old enthusiasm.

"All right, Nick! Go get him!"

Berd was brought down to the witness stand and sworn in.

"Very well, then, Mr. Wright, what is it you wish to ask?" said the judge.

This time the eyes of the spectators were all on me. Everyone was waiting to hear the question, some in curiosity and some in disbelief. Edgeworth had his usual smug confidence, arms folded, tapping a finger against his elbow. Maya looked on eagerly. The judge just looked confused, so at least there was someone who was the same as always.

This was it. If I believed in my client, this was the only thing I could think of to explain the facts. But what if I was wrong? What if I had built a clever solution to the puzzle not on a contradiction in testimony but just a witness being careless?

And why did I only think of that _now_?

"Nick!" Maya hissed.

I took a deep breath. It was way too late for second thoughts.

"Mr. Berd, you've testified that at 11:30 you visited the Stonecrest Building, you went into the lobby, you attempted to reach Ms. Avalon over the intercom several times, then gave up and left. With that in mind, I have one question for you: _where was the doorman during all this?_

"Doorman? I didn't see any doorman."

The judge still looked as confused as ever. The spectators whispered back and forth, asking one another what the heck I was talking about. But not Edgeworth. He got it at once, which was why _he_ looked like he'd been punched in the stomach.

"You didn't?" I pressed the point, spelling things out for the benefit of the court. "The doorman who was supposed to be on duty in the lobby until midnight? The one who has to have a card key to the building parking lot in order to valet-park the residents' cars? The doorman who said Ms. Avalon's car was a 'sweet thing,' then said 'Man, can she go!' even though his experience with it was to drive it between the front side of the building and the back--except of course when he was 'borrowing' it to go joyriding at speeds way too fast to keep from hitting an innocent jaywalker? _You didn't see that doorman at his post in the lobby at the precise time the crime was being committed_?"

"Aaaaaaaaaaagh!"

The screamer proved to be Albert Pacer, fighting his way through the crowd, towards the exit. Edgeworth immediately pointed at him, snapping out, "Detective Gumshoe! Apprehend that man!"

"Huh, what? Hey, that's far enough, pal!"

As Gumshoe hurtled out of the courtroom after the doorman, I grinned at the judge.

"Can't flight be considered as legal evidence of guilt?"

"Quite. In light of these new developments, this court finds the defendant, Ms. Ayako Avalon--"

I glanced nervously at Edgeworth, then crossed my fingers.

"Not guilty!"

The judge's gavel fell without interruption, and I let out the breath I'd been holding just in time to keep from turning blue.

-X X X-

I wondered if the defendant's lobbies all had copies of the same picture on the wall, or if they kept moving it around from case to case.

"Mr. Edgeworth was so cool!" Maya gushed. "'Detective Gumshoe! Apprehend that man!' It was like something out of a TV show!"

"You mean, like the Evil Magistrate ordering his minions to attack the Steel Samurai?"

"Yeah! No, wait, that's not what I mean at all!"

Ayako chuckled.

"It must be hard when your assistant is one of your adversary's fangirls, Mr. Wright."

"Well, you get used to it," I said with a shrug. Victory makes a man magnanimous, I guess.

"I'm glad, because there'll be more of it in your future."

"Huh?" was my brilliant comment. She just winked at me, never a comfortable moment with a medium who has just used the word "future."

"Still, I must say that I finally see why Maya had such confidence in you." She extended a hand. "I'm sorry for all my doubts--and for being so nasty about them."

"That's all right." _It's not like I didn't have the same doubts, after all._

"Well, no, it isn't. Someday that temper's going to get me in trouble." She grinned impulsively. "But hey, I'll worry about that later. Thanks to you two, I'm a free woman." Ayako waved jauntily and headed for the door, leaving me with Maya.

"So...I guess this is goodbye, again?" I said, a little hesitantly.

"Yeah...I just came back for Ayako's sake."

"It's lucky for her that you did."

"What, because I know a great defense lawyer? Patting yourself on the back a little hard, aren't you, Nick?"

"What? No, I...I mean..."

"Kidding, Nick. Kidding!"

"Um, yeah, I knew that." Not. "But no, if it hadn't been for you speaking up, the judge would have pronounced the verdict right there before I could figure things out."

Maya brightened.

"Yeah, you do need me, don't you? Well, don't worry, Nick. Once my training is finished, I'll be coming right back. You can't get rid of a Fey that easily!"


End file.
